The Los Angeles Kings have signed restricted free agent Adrian Kempe to a three-year contract worth a total of $6MM. The young forward was the final RFA the Kings had to sign and will be arbitration eligible when the deal expires.
Kempe, 22, was originally selected in the first round of the 2014 draft and has now been a full-time NHL roster player for two years. After a nice season in 2017-18 when he showed his upside with 16 goals and 37 points, his offensive production dried up a bit last year. Transitioning to center, Kempe recorded just 12 goals and 28 points on a Kings team that struggled to find much success. The fact that they’ve now locked him in at a very reasonable number coming off that down season leaves plenty of room for Los Angeles to receive excess value from this contract, especially if Kempe can take over as the team’s second-line center at some point.
To do that though, Kempe does need to bring more consistency to his game and be a threat more often in the offensive zone. At the international level the Swedish forward has shown he can be an extremely dangerous player with the puck, something that has to come out every night in the NHL. An excellent skater that has the size and skill to win one-on-one battles anywhere on the ice, there’s no reason why he can’t experience a breakout at some point during the length of this deal.
That’s what Los Angeles will hope for as they try to transition their team to a younger, more skilled group. The bruising, defensive, puck-control hockey that brought them so much success over the last ten years failed them last year when they dealt with injuries and inconsistency, meaning new head coach Todd McLellan will need to find a new way to compete in the Western Conference. Kempe and other young forwards will likely be given an opportunity to make a bigger impact this season, though they’ll need to prove they can carry the load early on.
30 goals in 187 career games…. and people think this will be a quick rebuild haha. Get ready for a ROUGH 3-4 year (minimum) stretch
Their prospect pool went from the worst to top 5 in just two seasons and one of those was not even a tanking season. 2020-21 they will start to have a solid team and 2022 they will contend. Hockey is the last sport where you dismiss a team for 4 years wake up
Sounds like somebody was listening to the Caps’ radio side last year when they were in L.A. Kenny said “…if they don’t start playing better, they won’t win 20 games a year for the next 5 years!” Better hope that Nick & Daryl have *really* entertaining trivia questions in the post-game shows! It may be the only thing to look forward to.
@amk3510 i’m well aware of the Kings prospect rankings. Their most “pro ready” offensive prospect…. has barely skated in two years due to his back (Vilardi). If you’re under the impression it magically goes away after three seasons and isn’t a problem for his entire career…. you’re blind. Turcotte is going to college, if you expect him to be a major contributor in the NHL in the next 2-3 years, again, you’re blind. Akil Smith, Kupari, and others are still years away.
My favorite part about your post…. is that you literally ended up saying exactly what I said. You said 2022 they will start contending…. where I said 3-4 year rebuild. Guess where that 3-4 years puts us?? 2022….
Wake up dude
I hope @amk3510 got emailed when you replied that post, because I got emailed by mistake. I fully agree with your assessment. The Kings have a long uphill climb, against the wind, on ice.
You said rough 3-4 stretch. I said it wont be starting in 2020-21 [Thats 1 year from now]. Maybe our ideas of when they can win a cup are similar but I see a 2 year stretch similar to what Colorado just did starting in the 2021 playoffs. This season will be rough. After that it gets better. Their prospects will be ready by then. Turcotte is rumored to be spending 1 year in College and he sure as heck wont be going to Ontario. The only players 2-3 years away are the ones drafted this year after Turcotte. Kings are loaded with young talent and will only add to it with another tank season.
Note to PHR: Please fix the Reply options, some of us are getting emailed by mistake, and the replies are not being attributed properly.